Instructor Bio:

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Ben has over 14 years of experience working with the U.S. Government and Private Security sectors, with a focus on training, physical security, and vulnerability assessments. He has deployed multiple times to austere locations including the Middle East and South America, as well as numerous at sea deployments providing training in vessel security aboard commercial ships transiting high-risk waters. Ben was the Assistant Team Leader on a US Department of State contract supporting humanitarian operations in Bolivia and Peru, conducting site security surveys and PSD operations in areas of civil unrest. He further provided physical security and personnel escort duties while attached to Task Force 3-10, working alongside U.S. military personnel at a forward operating base in the Konduz Province of Afghanistan.

Ben has provided courses of instruction in combatives to the: Army’s 101st Airborne Division at Fort Cambell, Kentucky; Joint Special Operations Command personnel in Afghanistan; various law enforcement agencies and a personal security detail for a senior general officer at Central Command in Tampa, Florida. He is also one of the primary self-defense and hand-to-hand combat instructors for Tactical Intelligence International, a military defense contractor in Orlando, Florida. He holds the rank of 3rd degree black belt in brazilian jiu-jitsu from Fabio Novaes of the Carlson Gracie Academy in Brazil, as well as numerous competitive accomplishments.

Finally, Ben possesses over 20 years of experience in the fields of civil and structural engineering design and holds a formal education in Intelligence Studies from American Military University, with advanced certifications in Counterintelligence. He is the founder of Redbeard Combatives and the developer and inventor of the Redbeard Combatives Force on Force Helmet used worldwide. From 2019-2023 Ben has held an important position as tactical advisor with Naval Special Warfare Advance Training Command – SEAL Combatives, training instructor cadre, enhancing and ensuring the modernization of combatives tactics for all Navy SEAL teams before wartime deployments. He is a certified protection specialist, weapons instructor and guest writer for numerous security publications.